Welcome to your 4-week Rock & Pop Easter Bootcamp!

As for any skill, exercise or fitness routine, our musical muscles need a good workout - that’s what practice is for! Of course, we’re not just talking about the muscles you use to play your instrument, but also your brain, ears and eyes and awareness of your overall performance. These muscles help develop your playing and strengthen your approach to a Trinity Rock & Pop exam!

In our bootcamp challenges, you’ll be asked to complete musical activities and tasks each week. The more practice you do, the more points you’ll achieve, and the more active your musical muscles will become!

Challenge 1 Challenge 2 Challenge 3 Challenge 4 Challenge 5

Week 1

In Week 1 we’ll be looking at repertoire and building our knowledge of the artists and bands in the Rock & Pop universe. The wider our listening and the better our knowledge of an artist, the greater strength we have in communicating and the more flexibility we have in moving between styles.

Bootcamp Goals

Build a deeper knowledge of our chosen artists and songs
Strengthen our listening skills
Familiarise ourselves with Rock & Pop styles.

Musical muscles trained: Ears and Brain

Level 1 task (Initial – Grade 3):

Play the demo of your chosen Rock & Pop song and listen out for your instrument/part. Sing or clap along with your favourite sections – 5 points each time
Find the original recording of the song online. It might sound slightly different from the Trinity version – can you list the differences? – 5 points
Find the name of the person playing your instrument and the brand/type of instrument or microphone they used – 10 points
Find and listen to two other songs from the same artist. How are they different from yours? –10 points each time
Learn to sing or play a short section from one of these other songs. How is it similar to your song? – 20 points each time
Research your chosen artist. Where were they born? How did they learn music? What did they write their songs about? How do they compose or practise their instrument? – 30 points

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, using the information you discovered, give a short presentation to your teacher or a friend, or make a video to upload on your social channels, telling us about your song and artist.

Keep a practice diary each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY! You’ve made some small steps in your musical fitness - try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and you are full of creative vitality and musical power!

Level 2 task (Grade 4-5) choose from the following:

Play the demo of your chosen Rock & Pop song and listen out for your instrument/part. Sing or clap along with various sections. How does your part interact with the other instruments? 5 points each time
Find the original recording of the song online. It might sound slightly different from the Trinity version – can you list the differences? Find some live versions online and see if the musicians add improvised or ‘ad lib’ phrases – 5 points
Find the name of the person playing your instrument in the original version and what brand/type of instrument or mic they used. Is there anything unusual about how this artist approached their instrument or voice? – 10 points
Find and listen to three other songs from the same artist. What musical features are similar or different? Think about rhythm, tempo, melody, soloing and the use of different instruments – 10 points each time
Learn to sing or play two or three other sections from one of these other songs. How are they similar to your song? Do they use the same melodic or rhythmic patterns? Are they in a different key? - 20 points each time!
Research your chosen artist. Where were they born? How did they learn music? What did they write their songs about? How did they compose or practise their instrument? Which musicians did they play with? What were their musical influences? - 30 points

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, using the information you discovered, give a short presentation to your teacher or a friend, or make a video telling us about your songs and artist.

Talk about at least three songs (including yours) that they wrote and give some information about at least three musical aspects (rhythm, tempo, tonality, structure, instruments).

Keep a practice diary each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY! You’ve made some small steps in your musical fitness - try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and you are full of creative vitality and musical power!

Level 3 task (Grade 6-8) choose from the following:

Play the demo of your chosen Rock & Pop song and listen out for your instrument/part. Sing or clap along to the various sections and elements of the song. How does your part interact with the other instruments? Use this exercise to learn memorise a section – 5 points each time!
Find the original recording of the song online. It might sound slightly different from the Trinity version – can you list the differences? Find some live versions online and see if the musicians add improvised or ‘ad lib’ phrases. Write a description of them – 5 points
Find the name of the person playing your instrument in the original version and what brand/type of instrument or mic they used. Is there anything unusual about how this artist approached their instrument or voice? Are they known for a particular style or technique? - 10 points
Find and listen to multiple songs from the same artist as your Trinity song. How are they different from yours? What musical features are similar or different? Think about rhythm, tempo, melody, soloing and the use of different instruments – 10 points each time!
Learn to sing or play a section from these other songs. How are they similar to your song? Do they use the same melodic or rhythmic patterns? Are they in a different key? How would you describe the phrasing, melodic shape, and the structure of the songs? - 20 points each time!
Research your chosen artist. Where were they born? How did they learn music? What did they write their songs about? How do they compose or practise their instrument? Which musicians did they play with? What were their musical influences? Listen to songs from a related artist – 30 points

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, using the information you discovered, give a presentation of your artist to your teacher or a friend, or make a video telling us about it.

Talk about multiple songs (including yours) that they wrote and give some information about as many musical aspects (rhythm, tempo, tonality, structure, instruments) as you can.

Keep a practice diary each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY! You’ve made some small steps in your musical fitness - try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and you are full of creative vitality and musical power!

Week 2

In Week 2 we will develop your core musical strength. Effective practice increases the strength and stamina of our musical muscle and this week we will be building healthy practice habits.

Bootcamp Goals

Learn to practice efficiently on our instrument or voice
Develop self-assessment skills

Musical muscles trained: All!

Level 1 task (Initial – Grade 3):

Spend a couple of minutes warming up your instrument or voice with a scale or exercise. How did it feel today? - 5 points each time!
Repeat the same scale or exercise 3 times. The first time at a moderate speed, the second time slowly, and the third time as fast as you can! Did you play/sing it evenly each time? Repeat the exercise again and focus on evenness – you can use a metronome to help if you have one - 10 points each time!
Choose one of your R&P songs. Is there a bar or phrase that you find tricky? Pick out the difficult passage and repeat it slowly. As you gain confidence, gradually increase the speed, using a metronome of you have one - 10 points each time!
Turn to your chosen Technical Focus song in your R&P book and read the information on the font page. What are the technical focus elements for this song? Using a pencil, mark the places on your music where this technique occurs - 20 points
Pick out a bar or a phrase where your technical focus element occurs and using it as a starting point, create your own exercise to strengthen this technique - 20 points!
Record yourself playing/singing one of your R&P songs. What did you think of the sound? What went well and what would you like to improve on? - 30 points.

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, make some notes about your practice journey to share with your teacher.

Keep a practice diary each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY! You’ve made some small steps in your musical fitness - try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and you are full of creative vitality and musical power!

Level 2 task (Grade 4-5)

Spend a couple of minutes warming up your instrument or voice with a scale or exercise. How did it feel today? Can you identify any areas that you need to work on? - 5 points each time
Repeat the same scale or exercise several times, varying the speed and dynamics. Did you notice any changes in tone quality? Were you able to play/sing evenly? 10 points each time
Choose one of your R&P songs. Is there a bar or phrase that you find tricky? Pick out the difficult passage and repeat it slowly. As you gain confidence, gradually increase the speed, using a metronome of you have one - 10 points each time
Turn to your chosen Technical Focus song in your R&P book and read the information on the front page. What are the technical focus elements for this song? Using a pencil, mark the places on your music where this technique occurs - 20 points
Pick out a bar or a phrase where your technical focus element occurs and using it as a starting point, create your own exercise to strengthen this technique. Can you find any examples of this technique in other songs? - 20 points
Record yourself playing/singing one of your R&P songs. What did you think of the sound? Was the tone even? Did you move freely around your instrument or voice? What went well and what would you like to improve on? Identify a key area of technique to focus on in your next practise session - 30 points.

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, make some notes about your practice journey to share with your teacher.

Keep a practice diary each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY! You’ve made some small steps in your musical fitness - try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and you are full of creative vitality and musical power!

Level 3 task (Grade 6-8)

Spend a couple of minutes warming up your instrument or voice with a scale or exercise. How did it feel today? Can you identify any areas that you need to work on? How might you approach them - 5 points each time
Repeat the same scale or exercise several times, varying the speed, dynamics and articulation. Is there anything you find particularly difficult – playing softly and quickly, for example? Repeat any challenging combinations - 10 points each time
Choose one of your R&P songs and turn to a passage that you find challenging. What are the technical difficulties you face here? For example, fingering, coordination or breath control. Have you overcome similar challenges before? Write down the strategies you used and think about how you might apply them here - 10 points each time
Turn to your chosen Technical Focus song in your R&P book and read the information on the front page. What are the technical focus elements for this song? Using a pencil, mark the places on your music where this technique occurs. - 20 points
Pick out a bar or a phrase where your technical focus element occurs and using it as a starting point, create your own exercise to strengthen this technique. Can you find any examples of this technique in other songs? Incorporate these into your practise - 20 points
Record yourself playing/singing one of your R&P songs. What did you think of the sound? Was the tone even? Did you move freely around your instrument or voice? What went well and what would you like to improve on? Identify several key areas of technique to focus on in your next practise session - 30 points.

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, make some notes about your practice journey to share with your teacher.

Keep a practice diary each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY! You’ve made some small steps in your musical fitness - try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and you are full of creative vitality and musical power!

Week 3

For Week 3 we’ll be building our fitness around an important aspect of R&P performance: groove (the overall “feel” of the combined rhythm), timekeeping, and synchronisation with backing tracks.

Bootcamp Goals

Keeping solid time, pulse and synchronisation with a backing track
Strengthening the communication of groove and style

Musical muscles trained: Ears and Brain.

Level 1 task (Initial – Grade 3) :

Choose a section of your chosen R&P song and practise in a loop, ideally with a metronome – 5 points each time
Listen to a Trinity backing track, clapping at the beginning of each bar on beat 1, trying to be as accurate as possible – 5 points each time
Listen to a favourite song whilst walking in the park or to school. Walk to the beat, see if your feet can find a slow rhythm or a fast one – 5 points each time
Set a metronome to around 70bpm, try and clap ‘in between’ the clicks, or on the offbeats. See if you can do this very precisely and evenly – 20 points each time!
Record a video of you playing one of your chosen R&P songs. Listen back and check if there are any moments that were a little out of sync. Why do you think this happened in that section? Practise just those sections and see if you can improve your timekeeping and sense of pulse – 30 points

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, record a video of all your R&P songs to see how much your timekeeping has improved!

Keep a practise diary and record how much time you spent working on your rhythmic muscles each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY. Ok, you’ve started with some small steps for your musical fitness, try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent a good amount of time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and your week is full of creative vitality and musical power!

Level 2 task (Grade 4-5) choose from the following:

Choose a section of your chosen R&P song and practise in a loop, ideally with a metronome – 5 points each time
Listen to a Trinity backing track, clapping at the beginning of each bar on beat 1, trying to be as accurate as possible – 5 points each time
Listen to a favourite song whilst walking in the park or to school. Walk to the beat, see if your feet can find a slow rhythm or a fast one – 5 points each time
Set a metronome to around 70bpm, try and clap ‘in between’ the clicks, on the offbeats. Increase the speed by 5 bpm each time, aiming to keep this as precise and even as possible – 20 points each time
Pick 3 songs from different genres, for example, Rock, Jazz and Indie, that have a different groove. Walk (or dance!) around the room and notice if you move differently with each groove – 20 points
Record a video of you playing one of your chosen R&P songs. Listen back and check if there are any moments that were a little out of sync. Why do you think this happened in that section? Practise just those sections and see if you can improve your timekeeping and sense of pulse – 30 points

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, record a video of all your R&P pieces to see how much your timekeeping has improved!

Keep a practise diary and record how much time you spent working on your rhythmic muscles each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY. Ok, you’ve started with some small steps for your musical fitness, try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent a good amount of time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and your week is full of creative vitality and musical power!

Level 3 task (Grade 6-8) :

Choose a section of a chosen R&P song and practise in a loop with a metronome – 5 points each time
Listen to a Trinity backing track, clapping at the beginning of each bar on beat 1, trying to be as accurate as possible – 5 points each time
Listen to a favourite song whilst walking in the park or to school. Walk to the beat, see if your feet can find a slow rhythm or a fast one - 5 points each time
Set a metronome to around 90bpm, try and clap ‘in between’ the clicks, on the offbeats. Increase the speed by 10bpm each time, aiming to be as precise and even as possible– 20 points each time
Pick 3 songs from different genres, for example, Rock, Jazz and Indie, that have a different groove. Walk (or dance!) around the room and notice if you move differently with each groove. Listen again and use your voice and hands to “play” the groove – 20 points
Record a video of you playing one of your chosen R&P songs. Listen back and check if there are any moments that were a little out of sync. Why do you think this happened in that section? Practise just those sections and see if you can improve your timekeeping and sense of pulse – 30 points.

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, record a video of all your R&P pieces to see how much your timekeeping has improved!

Keep a practise diary and record how much time you spent working on your rhythmic muscles each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY. Ok, you’ve started with some small steps for your musical fitness, try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent a good amount of time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and your week is full of creative vitality and musical power!

Week 4

By now, you have built strength in all areas of musical fitness! Now, let’s build up our skills in evaluating our own performance through watching and listening.

Bootcamp Goals

Strengthen our performance through self-evaluation and feedback
Build-up overall performance confidence for your Trinity exam.

Musical muscles trained: All!

Level 1 task (Initial – Grade 3) choose from the following:

Make a video of your chosen R&P songs – 40 points each time!
Listen back to it and make some notes for yourself; which was the best section? Which one could be improved? Was there a particular musical element (e.g. synchronisation, tone) that was more difficult than others? Were you focussed? Did you look confident? Did you find it easy to move from one style to the next? 40 points.
Prepare yourself for recording them as one continuous take. Do you have the page turns marked? Is your music stand in an accessible place? How will you play the backing tracks? How can you transition between the pieces in as smooth a way as possible? 20 points.

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, record a video of all your R&P pieces as if it were the real exam. Watch it back with your teacher/friend and choose x3 positive elements and x3 that could be improved upon.

Keep a practise diary and record how much time you spent working on your performing skills each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY. Ok, you’ve started with some small steps for your musical fitness, try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent a good amount of time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and your week is full of creative vitality and musical power!

Level 2 task (Grade 4-5) choose from the following:

Make a video of your chosen R&P songs – 40 points each time!
Listen back to it and make some notes for yourself; which was the best section? Which one could be improved? Was there a particular musical element (e.g. synchronisation, tone) that was more difficult than others? Were you focussed? Did you look confident? Did you find it easy to move from one style to the next? 40 points.
Prepare yourself for recording them as one continuous take. Do you have the page turns marked? Is your music stand in an accessible place? How will you play the backing tracks? How can you transition between the pieces in as smooth a way as possible? 20 points.

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, record a video of all your R&P pieces as if it were the real exam. Watch it back with your teacher/friend and choose x4 positive elements and x4 that could be improved upon. Be specific about the musical and performance elements involved: rhythm, synchronisation, tone, transitions, dynamics, articulation, engagement etc.

Keep a practise diary and record how much time you spent working on your performing skills each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY. Ok, you’ve started with some small steps for your musical fitness, try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent a good amount of time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and your week is full of creative vitality and musical power!

Level 3 task (Grade 6-8) choose from the following:

Make a video of your chosen R&P songs – 40 points each time!
Listen back to it and make some notes for yourself; which was the best section? Which one could be improved? Was there a particular musical element (e.g. synchronisation, tone) that was more difficult than others? Were you focussed? Did you look confident? Did you find it easy to move from one style to the next? 40 points.
Prepare yourself for recording them as one continuous take. Do you have the page turns marked? Is your music stand in an accessible place? How will you play the backing tracks? How can you transition between the pieces in as smooth a way as possible? 20 points.

Write/Record:

At the end of the week, record a video of all your R&P pieces as if it were the real exam. Watch it back with your teacher/friend and choose x5 positive elements and x5 that could be improved upon. Be specific about the musical and performance elements involved: rhythm, synchronisation, tone, transitions, dynamics, articulation, engagement etc.

Keep a practise diary and record how much time you spent working on your performing skills each day and track how many points you gain across the week:

>30 points: NICE TRY. Ok, you’ve started with some small steps for your musical fitness, try and do more next week!
30 – 80 points: GREAT! You have spent a good amount of time working on your musical muscles and keeping regular activity.
80 – 130 points: AWESOME! You are building significant strength in your musical fitness and are becoming full of creative energy.
130+ points: WOW! Your musical health and stamina are in tip-top shape and your week is full of creative vitality and musical power!

Week 5

So that’s it! You’ve been hitting our Trinity gym and bootcamp regime for a whole month and really strengthened those musical muscles!

How many points did you get in total across our 4-week Easter Bootcamp program??

500+ points – Gold medal

350+ points – Silver medal

170+ points – Bronze medal

Now it’s time to show us everything you’ve learned across the four weeks, uploading it onto YouTube and embedding it onto our site to join our Bootcamp community across the world!

In your video we want you to create your own short piece of music. You can play it all the way through, or explain some sections to the camera, whatever you like! Uploading this video will give you a chance to receive feedback from peers and other teachers and will be a true testament to your work over the last month.

Demonstrate your newfound musical fitness, stamina and skills to us in your piece with any combination of the following:

Put a metronome on and clap or play some rhythms on or off the beat to show us your great timekeeping
Play the different sections of your own short piece with a solid groove
Can you write/create a section that uses some of your Technical Focus elements? Maybe use your work from Week 2 to help you
What style is your piece in? Think about how you will communicate the expression and character
Include lots of dynamics and articulation!
Can you stay focussed all the way through your video?
Try and play with personal investment and commitment to your performance
In your video make sure the camera is positioned well and any transitions between sections are as smooth as possible.